UNITED NATIONS: Iran has regained its voting rights at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) after a partial payment of its dues in arrears, a spokesman at the world body has confirmed.
"Iran has paid the minimum amount due," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said on Friday, according to reports. Shortly after Haq's comments, Iran's U.N. Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi wrote in a tweet that "Illegal US sanctions have not just deprived our people of medicine; they have also prevented Iran from paying our dues in arrears to the UN."
In a letter dated May 28, Guterres had informed the UNGA that the Central African Republic, the Comoros, Iran, Sao Tome and Principe, and Somalia were at least two years in arrears.
With Iran's payment, the country was allowed to vote in Friday's election of five non-permanent members of the Security Council.
In January, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that Iran owed USD 16.2 million in fees to the United Nation, which led to Iran having their UN General Assembly voting rights revoked. In response, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh claimed that because of U.S. sanctions, the money designated for the UN payments was frozen in South Korean banks.
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